Jones v. United States

MYERS, Associate Judge, Retired:

Under a duly issued warrant for search of an apartment, a police officer found the premises to be occupied by one Brown and others including appellant and one Edwards. All three men were arrested.1 Appellant and Edwards, after trial by the court without a jury, were convicted of being knowingly present in an establish*560ment where narcotic drugs were sold, administered or dispensed without a license in violation of D.C.Code 1967, § 22-1515 (a):

Whoever is found in the District in a gambling establishment or an establishment where intoxicating liquor is sold without a license or any narcotic drug is sold, administered, or dispensed without a license shall, if he knew that it was such an establishment and if he is unable to give a good account of his presence in the establishment, be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than $500, or both.2

The exhibits found on the premises and introduced by the Government at trial were: five cookers, an envelope containing 150 empty gelatin capsules containing traces of white powder, eight syringes, eleven other needles, seventy other capsules, and other assorted narcotics paraphernalia. The officer also testified that Brown had “fresh needle marks and tracks on his arm.” A Government chemist testified that chemical analysis revealed the presence of heroin traces in the capsules, in some of the cookers, and in some of the needles.3 Appellant and Edwards denied seeing any narcotic paraphernalia on the premises, but the former admitted that he had known that Brown was a narcotics user for at least nine months prior to their visit to the apartment.

We are not in accord with appellant’s further contention that the word “administered”, as used in the statute, should be construed to connote a two-party transaction but, on the contrary, it would also apply in event there was a self-administration of the drug.

It is settled law that criminal intent on the part of the possessor of illicit drugs can be presumed from the presence of a large quantity of narcotics paraphernalia easily visible on the premises. Johnson v. United States, D.C.App., 255 A.2d 494 (1969). We think the same rational applies to impart knowledge of the intended use to another individual present under the same circumstances. The amount of narcotics paraphernalia easily visible in the apartment plus the fresh needle tracks on Brown’s arm support the presumption that narcotic drugs were being administered and that the appellant had knowledge of the same. Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 36, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969).

Other alleged errors have been considered and are found to be without merit.

Affirmed.